


A Second Chance

by celtic7irish



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Fix-It, Gen, Tony Stark Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-26
Updated: 2019-04-26
Packaged: 2020-02-04 16:52:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18608629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celtic7irish/pseuds/celtic7irish
Summary: Tony wakes up.THIS IS A FIX-IT FIC TO ENDGAME!





	A Second Chance

**Author's Note:**

> Please bear in mind that I wrote this fic before seeing the movie. I am a sucker for spoilers, though, so I knew exactly three things about the fates of the characters that I, personally, care about. So this is my version of a fix-it. Sort of.

The sound of machines was the first sign that Tony was, by some miracle, still alive.  The steady beeping of a heart monitor, the quiet swish of the oxygen machine pumping fresh air into his lungs.  His eyes felt gummy, and his mouth tasted like something had died in it. Nope, bad thoughts there. The room he was in smelled of chemicals and antiseptic, and It took an almost insurmountable effort to twitch his little finger.

 

There was nothing obstructing his airway, and as far as he could tell, no needles or anything piercing his skin.  In fact, despite feeling like he’d been asleep for at least a decade, Tony was feeling...good. No pain, other than some stiffness that he attributed to being asleep for however long.  Maybe he really was dead after all.

 

“Mmph?” he managed, his throat clicking dryly.

 

“Tony?” Rhodey’s voice was familiar and very, very welcome.  Tony made another noise, twitching towards his friend’s voice, and then suddenly Rhodey was there by his side, running his hands over Tony’s shoulders and chest and arms.  “Oh, thank god. I was starting to worry,” he said, keeping his voice light.

 

Tony managed to pry his eyes open into slits to look up at his best friend.  Rhodey’s eyes were misting over, and his smile was tremulous at best as he reached for the button that would prop the mattress up, and probably call in a battalion of nurses.  Tony made a grumbling noise as he was jostled, but there was still no pain, and he could breathe just fine and feel all his extremities, so it was mostly just a general complaint.

 

“Yeah, yeah, I hear you,” Rhodey grumbled right back, even as he carefully held a straw to Tony’s mouth, letting him finally get some much needed water.  

 

“You’d better have the kitchen bring ‘im up somethin’ plenty substantial,” a less familiar voice spoke up from Tony’s right, and Tony jerked, nearly spilling the water before Rhodey got it moved out of the way.  Slouched awkwardly in an uncomfortable-looking chair was the goddamn Winter Soldier, and Tony glared at Rhodey pointedly.

 

“He saved your life, Tones,” Rhodey said.  “Thanks to him, Morgan’s going to get to have her dad.”

 

Tony remembered then.  Thanos, the Gauntlet, the damage it had done, his death.  Except, he apparently wasn’t dead. In fact, he was feeling great, considering how much the Stones had hurt him.  He should definitely be dead.

 

“What-,” he started, then was interrupted by coughing.  Rhodey patted him on the back, then offered him more water when he was done.  Once he caught his breath, Tony tried again. “What did you do?” he asked, directing the question towards the Soldier.

 

“I couldn’t do anythin’ to save your parents,” Barnes replied, grey eyes more haunted than Tony had ever seen them, “but I could save you.  So I did.” He shrugged like it hadn’t been a big deal, but Tony knew better, because he was the same way. He fixed what he could, to try and make up, even a little, for what he couldn’t.

 

There was an awkward pause where nobody said anything, but Rhodey finally broke the silence. “Look, I’m going to go get you both some food, and call Pepper, she’ll be happy to hear you’re finally awake.  You two...catch up or hash it out or whatever you gotta do. Just try not to break the hospital, okay?” And with that, he was gone, leaving Tony and Barnes to stare at each other across three feet of empty space.

 

Tony spoke first.  “Steve?” he asked.

 

“Got what he always wanted,” Barnes said, no bitterness in his tone.  He held up a phone - Stark Tech, Tony noted with a small amount of pride - and showed Tony a picture of Steve.  But it wasn’t the Steve that Tony remembered, and he straightened up in alarm.

 

“How long was I out?” he demanded, making grabby hands for the phone, which Barnes handed over easily enough.

 

“Eleven days, three hours, twenty-nine minutes,” Barnes replied evenly, then paused.  “Approximately.”

 

“Then what happened to him?” Tony asked, staring down at a much older Steve Rogers.  He looked like he’d never been frozen in time at all.

 

“He took the stones back, all o’ them,” Barnes told him.  “And then he found Peggy. And he decided to stay.”

 

Tony thought about that.  He clearly remembered meeting the young, freshly thawed Steve Rogers on the Helicarrier.  He remembered fighting Loki, though his mind seemed to think that they’d both beaten and lost the Asgardian prince.  But this Steve Rogers was clearly still around. So did that mean there were two of them? One who married Peggy, and another who went down in the ocean and later headed the Avengers?  

 

“I hate time travel,” he muttered, just thinking about the possibilities giving him a headache.

 

“You and me both, pal,” Barnes agreed.  “‘S why I didn’t go back. I had a chance to change everythin’, but then I couldn’t have saved you.  And you saved us all, so I made my choice.” And it hadn’t been an easy one; Tony could hear the anguish in Barnes’ voice.  He’d made a near-impossible decision, just to make sure that Tony lived to see what his sacrifice had wrought. A world (a universe, but who cared about the rest of it?) with its population restored, a wife and a daughter that he could love and grow old with, a chance to finally live in peace, to lay down the mantle of Iron Man and become just Tony Stark; genius billionaire philanthropist. _Father_.  And in doing so, Barnes had lost everything.  Again.

 

“What will you do now?” Tony asked.

 

Barnes shrugged.  “Probably keep fighting the good fight,” he admitted.  “Somebody’s gotta keep the new Cap on his toes.”

 

Tony grinned.  “Wilson?” he asked, because honestly, if Steve hadn’t picked Barnes, Wilson would be Tony’s next choice, too.

 

Barnes nodded.  “Yeah.” He studied Tony carefully.  “And what’ll you do?” he asked.

 

Tony shook his head. “I’m done being Iron Man,” he said, “and done being an Avenger.  But I’ll probably still keep making tech.” He was actually hoping that perhaps the Wakandans would be willing to share more of their tech with them.  Tony had been eager to get his hands on some of it before disaster had struck. And now? Now, he finally had time to go back to the basics, to build just because he could.  And it had been Bucky Barnes, of all the people in the universe, that had given that back to him.

 

“Barnes?” Tony murmured, waiting until the soldier met his eyes.  “Thanks. For giving me back the future.” The words were too weak to convey the emotions behind them, the hope and the relief and the joy, but judging by the way Barnes smiled at him, he understood nonetheless.

 

“Any time, Stark.”

 

Tony laughed.  Any time, indeed.


End file.
